(1) Field of Invention:
This invention relates to articles for rapid drying of hair and is particularly suited for combs, hair brushes and hair curlers.
(2) Description of Prior Art:
The oldest devices for "rapid" hair drying in the prior art dealt primarily with manual means, such as combs and brushes having removable inserts of water absorbent materials. Later devices have been addressed to delivering warm air, under pressure, utilizing heating elements coupled with electrically driven blower motors. Of course, the need for a power source is a disadvantage of the later art and limits the use of such devices to locations having electrical outlets. Another drawback of this later art is the time normally required to thoroughly dry ones hair, even with high powered blowers. Blow-dryers are expensive to purchase compared with manual devices and present maintenance problems unknown to the old art. Also, the high heat of blow-dryers may endanger the hair.
The very earliest hair drying combs had teeth composed of absorbent material, such as clay, asbestos or mineral wool, which were first heated by independent means and then passed through the hair to be dried. When the comb had become cooled and filled with moisture, it had to be heated again and used in the same manner, if needed. The moisture was taken up by capillary action and the materials used must have been capable of withstanding great heat.
Later devices were absorbent combs having plush stretched over a plurality of plates which engaged the hair of the user between the opposing surfaces of the absorbent material, thereby absorbing the moisture and surplus oils in the hair.
Another approach was a removable hair cleaning cover which slipped over the teeth of a hair comb like a slip cover over a chair. The comb body would be of wood and the absorbent material would be paper or cloth. The means for holding the absorbent material to the combs varied and some combs were held out only to be hair and scalp cleaners, rather than dryers. One means of holding the material was a comb split in half with the absorbent material held recessed between the two halves which formed a clamp when closed. Absorbent materials, such as paper pulp, were sometimes molded into teeth-like projections to form the core of hair cleaning combs which had recesses to accommodate the core material. When full of dirt and oils, the core would be discarded and replaced. In structure, some of these early hair and scalp cleaners took on the appearance of hair brushes but the technology was addressed to absorbing dirt and excessive oil from the hair.
The prior art overlaps into the hair drying, bleaching, and conditioning functions, as some of the devices having absorbent inserts could be used for both drying and hair conditioning. The primary application involving polymer moldings were shaped articles used for hair conditioning. Water solubility was looked upon as a means for conveying liquids (conditioners) to the hair rather than as a means for taking moisture from the hair. Water soluble polymers would be intertwined with water insoluble polymers, with the latter element to give structure and support to the water soluble element which would carry the conditioner to the hair. This same technique could be applied to the present invention but the water absorbent element would serve a different purpose, that of removing moisture quickly from the hair. The water insoluble polymer would merely give the shaped articles structure and strength.
Prior art known to this inventor includes the following U.S. Patent Numbers:
______________________________________ 633,457 9/1899 Hotze 1,039,982 10/1912 Maley 1,147,681 7/1915 Maley 1,166,361 12/1915 Grove 2,577,921 12/1951 Samel 2,785,693 3/1957 Bova 2,889,835 6/1959 Hazzard 2,895,487 7/1959 Hazzard 3,992,336 11/1976 Faucher 4,018,729 4/1977 Faucher 4,013,086 3/1977 Chmela ______________________________________